Tomcat Vulnerable to Web Cache Poisoning
Jakarta Tomcat 5.0.19 (Coyote/1.1) and Tomcat 4.1.24 (Coyote/1.0) allows remote attackers to poison the web cache, bypass web application firewall protection, and conduct XSS attacks via an HTTP request with both a "Transfer-Encoding: chunked" header and a Content-Length header, which causes Tomcat to incorrectly handle and forward the body of the request in a way that causes the receiving server to process it as a separate HTTP request, aka "HTTP Request Smuggling."
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.apache.tomcat:tomcat | >= 5.0.0, <= 5.0.19, >= 4.0.0, <= 4.1.24 | no fix |
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2005-2090
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/29dc6c2b625789e70a9c4756b5a327e6547273ff8bde7e0327af48c5@%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/37220405a377c0182d2afdbc36461c4783b2930fbeae3a17f1333113@%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/39ae1f0bd5867c15755a6f959b271ade1aea04ccdc3b2e639dcd903b@%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/b84ad1258a89de5c9c853c7f2d3ad77e5b8b2930be9e132d5cef6b95@%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/b8a1bf18155b552dcf9a928ba808cbadad84c236d85eab3033662cfb@%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/c62b0e3a7bf23342352a5810c640a94b6db69957c5c19db507004d74@%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r03c597a64de790ba42c167efacfa23300c3d6c9fe589ab87fe02859c@%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r587e50b86c1a96ee301f751d50294072d142fd6dc08a8987ae9f3a9b@%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb71997f506c6cc8b530dd845c084995a9878098846c7b4eacfae8db3@%3Cdev.tomcat.apache.org%3E
- https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A10499
- http://community.ca.com/blogs/casecurityresponseblog/archive/2009/01/23.aspx
- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306172
- http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce//2007/Jul/msg00004.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2008-03/msg00001.html
- http://lists.vmware.com/pipermail/security-announce/2008/000003.html
- http://seclists.org/lists/bugtraq/2005/Jun/0025.html
- http://securitytracker.com/id?1014365
- http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-26-239312-1
- http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2007-206.htm
- http://support.ca.com/irj/portal/anonymous/phpsupcontent?contentID=197540
- http://tomcat.apache.org/security-4.html
- http://tomcat.apache.org/security-5.html
- http://tomcat.apache.org/security-6.html
- http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/software/security/products-f/interstage-200703e.html
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2007-0327.html
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2007-0360.html
- http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0261.html
- http://www.securiteam.com/securityreviews/5GP0220G0U.html
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/485938/100/0/threaded
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/500396/100/0/threaded
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/500412/100/0/threaded
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/13873
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/25159
- Weakness (CWE)
-- Platform
- Java / Kotlin (Maven)
- Package
org.apache.tomcat:tomcat- Disclosed
- 01.05.2022
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 11:20
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-f2gq-p6qv-ccw4 - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: org.apache.tomcat:tomcat
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 162
- First → latest
- 12.2018 08.2026
- Without a fix
- 20
- Exploited in attacks
- 1
Severity breakdown
- Critical 8
- High 40
- Medium 102
- Low 12
Disclosures per year
- 2018: 1
- 2019: 1
- 2020: 2
- 2021: 5
- 2022: 125
- 2023: 3
- 2024: 2
- 2025: 4
- 2026: 19
-
Tomcat Vulnerable to Web Cache Poisoning this entry
Know which vulnerabilities affect your application
With the DockRay integration and software inventory enabled, DockRay checks reported component versions against known vulnerabilities and notifies you about confirmed matches. Coverage depends on the supported technology and available advisory data.